(Islamabad) Pakistani courts on Saturday acquitted former prime minister Imran Khan of a conviction for illegal marriage under Islamic law, his political party announced, but he remains in jail on charges of inciting riots.
Imran Khan, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been embroiled in more than 200 legal cases since leaving power – a campaign he says is designed to prevent him from regaining power. He has been in jail since last August.
An Islamabad court has “dismissed the charges” against Mr Khan, a spokesman for his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said, effectively overturning a seven-year prison sentence handed down on February 3 days before a disputed parliamentary election.
Mr Khan remains in jail, however, after a court last week revoked his bail on charges he incited his supporters to riots in May 2023.
This is “another trick to prolong illegal imprisonment,” PTI spokesman Ahmed Janjua said. Late Saturday, PTI said Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were also accused in a separate corruption case.
The former prime minister, 71, was held in Adiala prison, south of the capital Islamabad, after being convicted of “illegal marriage”.
He and his wife were both sentenced to seven and three years in prison in February because, under Islamic law, their marriage took place too soon after M’s divorce.me Bibi.
In April, the former cricket star and his wife had their 14-year prison sentence for corruption suspended by a Pakistani high court.
In early June, Mr Khan was also acquitted of a treason charge, for which he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison at first instance.
“No legal basis”
A UN panel of experts recently ruled that the detention of the former Pakistani prime minister was arbitrary and contrary to international law, calling for his release “immediately”.
His detention “has no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from political office,” the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in an opinion dated March 25, but only made public in early July.
“The appropriate solution would be to release Mr Khan immediately and provide him with enforceable compensation and other remedies, in accordance with international law,” the experts said.
Imran Khan, who came to power in 2018, was ousted by a no-confidence vote in April 2022 after losing the support of the all-powerful military, analysts say.
He then launched an unprecedented campaign challenging the senior officers who had once supported him, accusing them of involvement in the assassination attempt in which he was injured at a rally in November 2022.
Mr Khan’s first arrest in May 2023 sparked nationwide protests by supporters expressing anger at the military. In response, the military orchestrated a sweeping crackdown on the PTI and its supporters.